The uneven price impact of energy efficiency ratings on housing segments and implications for public policy and private markets

In the literature, there is extensive, although in some cases inconclusive, evidence on the impact of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) on housing prices. Nonetheless, the question of whether such an impact is homogenous across residential segments remains highly unexplored. This paper addresses this latter issue utilizing multifamily listing data in metropolitan Barcelona. In doing so, first the entire sample is analyzed using a hedonic model. Second, the sample is split on the basis of a multivariate segmentation. Finally, separated hedonic models are specified again. The results suggest that in general, there is a modest impact of EPC ratings on listing prices, nonetheless it is not homogeneous across housing segments: (1) for the most modern apartments, with state-of-the-art features and active environmental comfort, energy ratings seem to play a null role in the formation of prices; (2) conversely, for the cheapest apartments, apartments boasting the most basic features, and apartments located in low-income areas, the “brown discount” is enormously significant, potentially depreciating the equity of those who have the least resources to carry out an energy retrofit. These results have implications for the assessment of the EPBD and its Spanish transposition, since a very well-intentioned environmental policy could have potentially harmful social repercussions in the absence of corrective measures.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Identifying residential sub-markets using intra-urban migrations: the case of study of Barcelona’s neighborhoods

The dynamic evolution of the real estate market, as well as the sophistications of the interactions of the actors involved in it have caused that, contrary to classical economic theory, the real estate market is increasingly being thought of as a set of submarkets. This is because, among other things, the modeling of a segmented housing market allows, on the one hand, to design housing policies that are better adapted to the needs of the population, but on the other hand, it allows the generation of both marketing and supply strategies Oriented to specific population sectors. Such strategies in theory should behave as options with relatively low uncertainty, thus representing an attractive offer to all market players. However, in praxis, the segmentation of the real estate market is usually modeled on the offer. It is therefore that this paper proposes a modeling from observed preferences3 seen through intraurban migrations. In particular, it is proposed to model the market through the interaction value of Coombes, scaling the results in order to visualize the resulting submarket structure from the construction of a PAM (Partitioning Algorithm Medoids).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Quantity v/s quality of scientific publications: an analysis for main cities of Spain (2001-2007)

Since the last quarter of the 20th century, most of the world population has experimented an important process of globalization, mainly due to; the accelerated knowledge production, the increase of intangible capital on a macroeconomic scale, the increase in levels of innovation, and the ICT revolution that have democratized access to information and knowledge dissemination. This new economic base, located in cities, is supported on knowledge and information as sources of production and competitiveness. The number of scientific publications on indexed journals is a scale, often used to measure the degree of strength of the scientific sector of a particular place. But this scale ignores the quality of the counted works, i.e. the impact they have generated in the scientific world. This work seeks to highlight the dynamics of scientific production in Spain. Specifically, it aims to analyze the quantity and quality of scientific publications in the period between 2001 and 2007. For this analysis, the quantity is measured by the number of scientific papers published by researchers from a city and the quality by the number of times that works signed by scientists from a city, have been cited by researchers around the world. In this study we establish a bibliometric analysis based on: 1) the number of scientific contributions to municipalities of more than 30,000 people whose information is derived from the SCI-E and 2) the number of citations for the top 10 cities with information derived from Scopus. Finally, we contrast the results of the more representatives cities, with the aim of clarify the relationship between the quantity and quality between quantity and quality of the scientific publication. The results suggest a concentration of quantity and quality of the scientific production in the Spanish metropolitan areas. However, we can provide that ranking who have the main cities in the context of national scientific publication is not similar for both parameters.

Does urban centrality influence residential prices? An analysis for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area

The bid rent theory (BRT), originally conceived for a monocentric city suggests a trade-off between land value and transport costs. Thus, in most of the practical applications, the simply distance/time/cost to the CBD is used as a proxy of accessibility. Nonetheless, in contemporary metropolises, employment and services do not cluster in one CBD but in many centers, furthermore the centrality quality does not follow a smooth gradient as distance to centers increases. Consequently, taking the distance/time/cost to centers in the context or hedonic models is problematic for collinearity issues and too simplistic since it directly assumes a smoothed gradient function. In this paper we test in Barcelona Metropolitan Area, a very well recognized polycentric city, whether some continuous indicators of centrality are key determinants of housing prices. Using listing prices, a hedonic model is built, and the asking price is regressed over two continuous indicators of centrality, one of them calculated departing of the spatial-temporal behavior of people, which itself is a novelty in this kind of studies. The results suggest that continuous centrality indicators do exert a moderate influence on housing prices after controlling for other structural and locative attributes. Nevertheless, the main determinants of prices are related to the socioeconomic stratification not accessibility as suggested by BRT. Energy class appears also as a factor influencing dwellings' price.Postprint (published version

Does energy performance certification evenly increase residential values?

In the EU the buildings accounts for 40% of energy consumption, offering room for improvement. In this context the EC has passed the Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD), which main aim is to give energy transparency to real estate transactions by means of EPC. This policy indirectly tries to incentive the production of efficient buildings and rehabilitations: it departs from the idea that tenants and buyers are willing to pay a market premium for efficient buildings. Although across Europe a number of studies have proven the positive impact of EPC on residential prices, in Spain such studies are scarce due the late transposition of EPBD. In this paper, using a hedonic approach, we analyse the impact of EPC on multifamily dwellings’ prices in Metropolitan Barcelona due its mild weather makes an excellent case study where to observe energy efficiency impacts on real estate prices. The results suggest that the asking price premium for “A” labelled apartment is 9.6% and 3.9% for a “D” in relation to the worse grade “G”. Nevertheless, such impact seems to differ across market segments. In the segment of recently built apartments the energetic label does not play any role in the prices, since apartments do have other architectonic attributes. On the contrary, in the segment of poor quality, with few facilities, the energetic label has a paramount importance on prices. This latter finding has important implications for policy making, since EPC has a deep impact on poor owned dwellings, precisely in the socioeconomic strata where energetic rehabilitation is not a priority. Thus, a good environmental policy may imply unexpected negative social consequences.Postprint (published version

Evolución de la influencia de los subcentros en la distribución de la población. Breve marco teórico.

Evolución de la influencia de los subcentros en la distribución de la población. Breve marco teórico.El objetivo de este artículo es explorar hasta qué punto el crecimiento demográfico en las principales metrópolis españolas experimentado en el decurso de los últimos lustros ha experimentado patrones inscribibles en el paradigma policéntrico, o si por el contrario puede categorizarse como disperso. A tales efectos, se analiza la forma en cómo se ha distribuido espacialmente el crecimiento demográfico, pasó como la evolución de la influencia de los subcentros de empleo en la organización del lugar de residencia de la población. El resto del documento se organiza así: primero se discute el estado del arte sobre la identificación de subcentros de empleo; luego se revisa la estructura de las principales áreas metropolitanas españolas; para a continuación describir las fuentes de información y métodos utilizados; en el pe núltimo epígrafe se analiza la forma en cómo se ha distribuido el crecimiento de la población de dichas metrópolis y en el último la influencia de los subcentros en la organización de dicho crecimiento. El artículo concluye realizando un sumario de los principales hallazgos encontradosPreprin

Novelties on land value capture in Spain: the 8/2007 Land Act’s new paradigm on land valuation

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Does polycentricism influence residential values? an analysis for the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona

This paper explores the relationship between centrality and land values. While in literature centrality is simplified as the proximity to centres, which normally are identified using qualitative approaches, in this paper a novelty vision is proposed. It differs from state of the art approaches since centrality is derived from an integrated indicator coming from data regarding the time-space behavior of citizens. In order to test whether centrality correlates with urban values, a regression model is used departing from data of Metropolitan Barcelona, such a method allows for controlling architectural variables that influence residential housings, as well as other locational factors beyond centrality that may affect land values. The results suggest that urban form does influence the spatial distribution of urban values; nevertheless such an impact is not as high as other locative factors such as socioresidential segregation. So urban policies intended to democratize urban quality should be focused not only in urban structural factors but also those regarding social differentiation of space

Willingness to pay for noise reduction in residential areas affected by airport traffic: the case of Barcelona

This paper reports the results of a research designed to assess the impact of Barcelona’s airport extension in terms of noise increase. A contingent valuation (CV) approach was carried out in order to extract the stated preference for noise reduction for a representative sample of residential areas; using this technique the respondents revealed their willingness to pay (WTP) for a proposed noise reduction. One of the main problems of CV is the protest answers, it is to say, the people that do not reveal their WTP, although they do value positively the good offered. For this reason two approaches were tested: the first is the conventional one where people state directly their WTP for a specific noise reduction; the second one the interviewed people state their hypothesis of real estate revalorization in case that such noise reduction would occur. The results reveals that direct WTP has a protest rate of 37.19%, meanwhile the second indirect WTP has only a protest rate of 7.8%. Furthermore, the data analysis based on logistic models suggest two conclusions: 1) the higher is the knowledge of the problem related to noise source, the higher is the WTP, controlling the rest of variables, and 2) also higher is the level of protest rate. It is to say, people aware of the airport problems are more skeptical about the valuation process (e.g.: the solution proposed to reduce the noise, the payment vehicle, or the noise reduction offered), this skepticism drive to boycott the experiment and consequently it masks the true WTP. Both effects produce a reduction on the aggregated mean WTP. For this reason the opinion and valuation of an environmental good (as silence) is not only influenced by the individual perception, but also is influenced by the knowledge about it, and the social perception; for this latter reason the predictive capacity of models is improved when the socio‐spatial correlation interactions are solved. Finally the results also suggest that the impact of airport noise is also influenced by the existence of other environmental noise source and the configuration of urban fabrics.Peer Reviewe

The impact of touristic infrastructures on local quality of life: the case of noise pollution in Barcelona

Massive tourism has made it necessary the construction of huge infrastructures to serve as regional gates to high capacity transport systems as highways, ports and airports. In installing such infrastructures local quality of life may be seriously disrupted. The valuation of these negative externalities is neural in the correct assessment of touristic investment, and for the correct planning of their integration into the urban fabric. This paper reports the results of a research designed to assess the impact of Barcelona’s airport extension in terms of noise increase. A contingent valuation (CV) approach was carried out in order to extract the stated preference for noise reduction for a representative sample of residential areas.The results reveals that airport enlargement effectively has reduced the quality of life of local residents, in such a way, that even that they are the affected side, they are ready to pay for noise reduction. Furthermore, the data analysis based on logistic regression models suggest two conclusions: 1) the higher is the knowledge of the problem related to noise source, the higher is the WTP, controlling the rest of variables, and 2) also higher is the level of protest rate.Peer Reviewe